Country style wedding - starter served family style and hog roast main course - wedding catering on Stow on the Wold cricket field

Mud, mud, glorious mud, nothing quite like it..... when you're trying to get from the entrance of the field to the marquee. And that was just the beginning - it had been raining for weeks prior it seemed - and the rain set in as we were en route to the venue. Essential equipment for weddings - full set of waterproofs, waterproof non slip shoes and a high tolerance level. Pushing vans through mud and unpacking in the rain is so refreshing!

Wet chefs dry off after the 'get in' - the first round of chef jackets slung up to dry

Bunting and paper lanterns give a lovely homely country feel. The country look is definitely in this year - it's funny how wedding fashions go. This looked really good - especially when you compared with the dreariness of the outside!

Even the flowers had a country feel - I love the understated look - it makes it much more of a family celebration.

Beetroot rosti with goat’s cheese and rocket (there was also pear & cranberry chutney to go on top of this after the pic was taken)

Mini Yorkshire puddings with grilled fillet steak and horseradish - no 1 popular canapé

Home-cured trout blinis with dill and lemon crème fraîche

Buffalo mozzarella, sun-dried tomato and basil on skewers - suggestion by the bride - this was big on flavour, just what you need in a canape!

Homemade sage and onion bread rolls - people keep telling me it would be  much easier buying them from the bakery across the road from me. Wouldn't be the same though - noone can make them as good as you. The difference in quality is worth the time!

Also, we've noticed, another wedding fashion has definitely been sharing platters - like a buffet, but served on platters at the table for guests to pass among themselves. Great idea - much more informal, gets all the guests interacting and saves on all the queueing at buffet tables - I love it!
For this one the bride and groom had asked for platters of smoked salmon (above, with diced onion, capers, parsley and lemon scattered on top) and beetroot, wild nettle and feta filo tarts as seen here. We also served a bowl of fennel, radish and orange salad per table. 

Another addition for the vegetarians who obviously couldn't have smoked salmon we served some vegetable carpaccio.

Gloucester old spot / Berkshire breed pig roast - quite the centre piece (all the waitresses were snapping away on their phones). We plated up the pork and rosemary roast potatoes, thn served salads in bowls on the table, again for guests to serve themselves.

Colours, textures, flavours - all prepared fresh on site just before being served - makes the difference.

Greek salad

Crunchy coleslaw - request from the bride & groom. With added celariac & sultanas. There was the all-time favourite grilled butternut squash, rocket, pommegranate and walnut salad

Cotswold mess (aka Eton Mess) with local seasonal berries

"Best food we've ever had at a wedding" we kept being told by all the guests we passed outside as they took a breather outside after coffee. Wahoo! Makes it all worthwhile!

Ahhhh! That's it then. Sit back and relax. Or is it? Well not quite. Time to pack up, push the van out of the field through the mud (beats weight lifting in a gym), back to base to unload, start clearing up, back home to put the first load of laundry on, then back to the venue around midnight to pick up the next load of equipment. By this time the mood has changed completely in the marquee, and the traditional wedding tunes have changed to live rap with an MC. Just what you need to keep you going while you work! 

Completely caked in mud by this point of the day I didn't want to drive back on to the field again and get stuck in the mud again (only a tractor could have pulled us out at that point) so parked on a road nearby and had to haul all the equipment over a stone wall. 01:30 off we go again back to base via the 24 hour supermarket for last minute supplies. Back at base by about 03:15 to unload where the overnight guys were busy washing up the first load of crockery & cutlery for the wedding the next day. Finally 04:30 and time for a bit to eat and a couple of hours rest, then soon enough it's time to set up for the next wedding and off we go again! Keeps you on your toes this business - every day is a challenge, that's why we love it!   

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Pink peppercorn cured trout

All tips greatfully received. Especially when they come like this:
The menfolk of the party had been out fishing during the day.

Left for a couple of days for the flesh to relax (See pin bone tip here) then filletted. I've frozen the head - fish head soup coming up some time. Yes really.
I've got a cure for that - I was reading Fiona's post on pink peppercorns ealier that evening - inspiration. Salt, sugar, pink peppercorns, lemon and orange zest, tarragon and cointreau.
1 week later we try out with gherkin and jalapenos & cucumber and beetroot during our baking evening. Pretty good. We will be using as part of the trout trio on Saturday. New menu idea (in another presentation of course)?

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Warm fillet of salmon gravadlax with rosti potato, cucumber noodles, beetroot and a dill mustard dressing

So much wonderful food in the last week, but all I have to show for it is this one dish. So busy with 87 people over 5 parties in 2 days there wasn't much time for photos. So no photo of the pigeon salad ("the pigeons are in the courtyard, they just need feathering and gutting.....") with celariac puree, black pudding, parsnip crisps and mustard vinaigrette, no photo of the pheasant au vin with pearl barley risotto, or the canapes (savoury and dessert), or the rack of lamb dish finished, or the white chocolate and blueberry cheesecake which I rather like. What we have here though is the salmon gravadlax for another new dish.
I've always loved warm smoked salmon - thinly sliced and warmed slightly under the grill it makes a great starter with a beurre blanc and a little salad. When I was looking at new menu ideas around new year I thought of using gravadlax instead.

Gravadlax was always a Saturday night job at Claridges - late after all the banquets had been sent. You had to hide the whole salmon fillets deep inside your fridge so the fish section wouldn't use them during their service, and then do it on Saturday night in case they came in early on Sunday to hunt them out. It takes a minimum of 2 days, preferably 3 to marinade, so if you had to wait till Monday you ran the risk of running out of time.


These were done on Thursday morning for Sunday night. Having done this so many times I never use quantities, but you start with orange and lemon zest and equal amounts of sugar and salt. If you have any caster sugar left from making candied orange or lemon zest this is ideal to use because it has extra flavour. To this you add a few juniper berries pounded in the pestle & mortar (or broken with the back of a knife), milled black pepper and chopped dill. Sprinkle this over the salmon and press it on. If you are slicing it thin, like smoked salmon you use skin on salmon which makes it easy to carve. Make a little nick in the skin so the marinade flavours go through the skin. Here I am using 150g fillets to serve it as a main course. You can also add vodka, cognac or gin which give you an extra flavour. Also beetroot to make the russian style gravadlax.

After this I put another tray on top, wrap it well so it doesn't get exposed to the air which would dry it out, then it is pressed (if you haven't any heavy weights you can use a saucepan full of water) at the bottom of the fridge - that way any juice that drips out doesn't go over anything else in the fridge. The pressing along with the salt helps remove some of the water content in the salmon which cures it.

2 or 3 days later you remove the marinade layer of salt, sugar, zest etc and sprinkle them with a small amount of fresh chopped dill to just coat the top, and you can bake them in the oven. Because it is cured you don't have to cook them all the way through.

Gill took these ones away to Hill House to cook for a hen party, while I was cooking pigeons, pheasants and lemon tart for a stag party at Park Hall near Kidderminster so I will get a photo of the finished dish this coming weekend when I re-create it at The Boathouse near Stratford-on-avon - watch this space.

Edit - Photo added above, taken rather hurriedly as Delia was rushing to take it to the table while it was hot - only right really.

Related posts:

Other salmon dishes

How to make potato rosti

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